Indulge me:
I'm not going to post much on Pat Robertson. He's evil. He's built an empire by inciting and inflaming fear and hatred amongst people who are either too scared or unthinking to resist it. Fortunately for "us," He's also a net positive. He may have a lot of influence over "his people," but they'd be under someone's influence. No, he's a net positive because he makes the large portion of the populace look at him and say "they're crazy." It's a debate where I don't have to participate to win.
And then there's these guys:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf
I neither like, nor agree with, their theology. In particular, I've been highly critical of some of their anti-Gay statements and decisions. Which is, sadly, only one of a handful of exclusions I disagree with. There is much to be disliked, if not opposed.
But unlike Robertson, they do good things in the world. Even to parts of the world they disagree with. They channel 89% of dollar they receive into food distribution, disaster relief, and recovery programs. And they distribute based on nothing other than need, asking nothing in return.
They are wrong, but they are not evil. And Haiti needs help.
Thank you for your indulgence.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The War on the War on Christmas
January 2nd is my yay-holidays-are-over-time-to-clean-up-and-nap day. It's also a good day to reflect. My reflections follow
This was the year "The War on Christmas" was finally reduced to just a punchline. Sure, a couple of media personalities tried to make lightning strike twice, but it just didn't happen. Most people just weren't having it. At least as far as Austin goes, the media refused to attend the circus.
This, I feel, is a very good sign. "The War on Christmas" is everything I hate about the modern Evangelical movement. See, I love Christmas. It is unabashedly my favorite holiday. I love all the winter festivals: Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Yule, Diwali, Kwanzaa. There is something deep in the human heart that revels in throwing an extravagant festival of goodwill during the midst of winter. My Christmas season spans the day after Thanksgiving clean through the day after New Years, and I relish every moment of it.
And the lingua franca of the season is Christmas. One of my friends once asked me what she could do to be more welcoming to some mutual, religiously diverse friends during the holiday season. I told her to throw a Christmas party and invite them.
That's what I love about Christmas, in particular. The sharing, the extension, the connection. The reminder that the richness and stability of life is in our willingness to care for each other.
Which is why, in my opinion, the ugliness that underlies what I'm starting to think of as "Archonic Christianity" becomes so apparent. The "war" has little to do with stopping celebrations. The world continues to celebrate, the stores continue to promote, songs are sung, decorations are hung. The party continues. We unabashedly settle on "their" holiday to find common ground.
It's the common ground that gets them. They don't *want* common ground. They want sheep and goats, elect and damned. They find the idea of wishing someone the happiness of their choice insulting to them perfectly. To them, only the people who make the "right" choice deserve to be happy.
A store full of symbols of life, joy, goodwill, and peace is not what's important to them, only that the two words on the sign are the "right" two words. Not the spirit in which they are written, not the feeling they invoke, not the intent. Only that the approved language has been used.
In this, their campaign to convince the world that the inclusion of others is a "war" against them, they've shown exactly who they are and what they want. They've demonstrated the anger, judgement, and control that lies at the heart of their beliefs.
And it shows. This year the non-Fox media coverage of them was much less complementary. One commentary called it "the people who aren't happy about anything still aren't happy about anything." And, for the record, it closed on a wish for Happy Holidays.
And Christmas at the White House was spectacular.
Happy New Year.
This was the year "The War on Christmas" was finally reduced to just a punchline. Sure, a couple of media personalities tried to make lightning strike twice, but it just didn't happen. Most people just weren't having it. At least as far as Austin goes, the media refused to attend the circus.
This, I feel, is a very good sign. "The War on Christmas" is everything I hate about the modern Evangelical movement. See, I love Christmas. It is unabashedly my favorite holiday. I love all the winter festivals: Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Yule, Diwali, Kwanzaa. There is something deep in the human heart that revels in throwing an extravagant festival of goodwill during the midst of winter. My Christmas season spans the day after Thanksgiving clean through the day after New Years, and I relish every moment of it.
And the lingua franca of the season is Christmas. One of my friends once asked me what she could do to be more welcoming to some mutual, religiously diverse friends during the holiday season. I told her to throw a Christmas party and invite them.
That's what I love about Christmas, in particular. The sharing, the extension, the connection. The reminder that the richness and stability of life is in our willingness to care for each other.
Which is why, in my opinion, the ugliness that underlies what I'm starting to think of as "Archonic Christianity" becomes so apparent. The "war" has little to do with stopping celebrations. The world continues to celebrate, the stores continue to promote, songs are sung, decorations are hung. The party continues. We unabashedly settle on "their" holiday to find common ground.
It's the common ground that gets them. They don't *want* common ground. They want sheep and goats, elect and damned. They find the idea of wishing someone the happiness of their choice insulting to them perfectly. To them, only the people who make the "right" choice deserve to be happy.
A store full of symbols of life, joy, goodwill, and peace is not what's important to them, only that the two words on the sign are the "right" two words. Not the spirit in which they are written, not the feeling they invoke, not the intent. Only that the approved language has been used.
In this, their campaign to convince the world that the inclusion of others is a "war" against them, they've shown exactly who they are and what they want. They've demonstrated the anger, judgement, and control that lies at the heart of their beliefs.
And it shows. This year the non-Fox media coverage of them was much less complementary. One commentary called it "the people who aren't happy about anything still aren't happy about anything." And, for the record, it closed on a wish for Happy Holidays.
And Christmas at the White House was spectacular.
Happy New Year.
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